Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
November 20, 2023
Katarina Jerotic, Peter Vuust, Morten L. Kringelbach
19 citations
Music and psychedelics have been intertwined throughout human history, from early shamanic rituals to modern psychedelic-assisted therapy. This review examines their interplay, describing how both engage the brain's functional hierarchy for music perception and its psychedelic-induced manipulation. It explores music's role in Western psychedelic therapy and indigenous rituals, focusing on ayahuasca and the Santo Daime Church. The work also considers music's potential to induce altered states of consciousness without psychedelics and the development of psychedelic music. The authors provide an overview of several perspectives on this interaction, a topic of growing interest given increasing excitement about psychedelic interventions' therapeutic efficacy.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
August 26, 2022
C. Martial, O. Gosseries, H. Cassol et al.
17 citations
This commentary criticizes a recent paper by Parnia and colleagues that proposed guidelines for studying death and near-death experiences. The authors argue that the original paper contains omissions and knowledge gaps, including incorrect neurological claims about brain death and misunderstandings about consciousness terminology. While the commentators agree that research on near-death experiences needs a framework, they contend that the Parnia paper is misleading and, despite its intentions, actually impedes scientific understanding of near-death experiences and the neural mechanisms of the dying brain.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
August 1, 2005
Ronald I. Herning
17 citations
People who use MDMA (ecstasy) show distinct brain changes compared to those who use only marijuana or no drugs. In a study of eight MDMA users, eight users of both MDMA and marijuana, fifteen marijuana-only users, and seventeen non-user controls, electroencephalography (EEG) recordings revealed that MDMA users had significantly higher absolute delta wave power at central electrode sites, a pattern not seen in the other groups. Marijuana-only users showed increases in alpha-2 power. Blood flow velocity in the middle cerebral arteries, measured by transcranial Doppler, was higher in MDMA users regardless of marijuana use. These brain changes, similar to those seen in chronic disorders, suggest MDMA may cause long-term neurological harm, though more research is needed.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
October 31, 1996
J P O'Callaghan, T S Rogers, L E Rodman et al.
14 citations
High doses of ibogaine, a psychoactive alkaloid, damage brain regions beyond the cerebellum in rats, with effects depending on sex and dosage. Single doses caused dose-related increases in GFAP, a marker of brain cell injury, across multiple brain areas in both sexes. Repeated doses led to large GFAP increases (up to 200% of control) in the hippocampus, olfactory bulbs, brain stem, and striatum of female rats but not males. In the hippocampus of chronically treated females, other structural proteins also increased, suggesting a sprouting response to damage. The findings indicate that ibogaine's neurotoxic effects are not limited to the cerebellum and vary by sex and dosing schedule.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
June 21, 2022
R. Evrard, E. Pratte, Th. Rabeyron
13 citations
A critique argues that a recent proposal to relabel near-death experiences (NDEs) as “recalled experience of death” and to consider only those with objective danger as “authentic” is not well supported by data. Instead, NDEs form a continuum of varied conscious experiences arising from the separation of processes normally combined in mental activity. The claimed core phenomenology of NDEs faces multiple criticisms, and closeness to actual death is not a decisive feature. The authors’ reliance on Raymond Moody’s model creates a biased division that cannot serve as a basis for consensus.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
May 1, 1998
Emmanuel S Onaivi, Syed F Ali, Amitabha Chakrabarti
13 citations
Ibogaine, a substance with potential antiaddiction effects against alcohol, psychostimulants, and opiates, was studied in mice and cell cultures to explore its mechanism. In mice, acute ibogaine doses reduced aversion to open arms in a plus-maze test, while subacute administration caused fluctuating aversive and antiaversive behavior over 14 days. Ibogaine reversed withdrawal aversions in mice abruptly withdrawn from cocaine. In PC 12 cells, cocaine disrupted signal transduction by altering protein kinase C isoform expression and activity and calcium levels. The findings suggest ibogaine's antiaddictive property may involve modifying central nervous system neurotransmission related to anxiety, but whether PKC signaling is important remains unknown.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
May 1, 1998
Zbigniew Binienda, Michael A Beaudoin, Brett T Thorn et al.
13 citations
Ibogaine, a psychoactive alkaloid with antiaddictive properties, can cause neurotoxicity. In anesthetized rats, a single 50 mg/kg dose of ibogaine produced an immediate decrease in heart rate and reduced EEG power across delta, theta, alpha, and beta frequency bands during the first 30 minutes, with recovery within 15 minutes. In the caudate nucleus, dopamine levels fell while dopamine turnover increased; serotonin levels rose in the frontal cortex. These physiological changes likely stem from ibogaine's interactions with multiple neurotransmitter systems.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
March 1, 2022
Jerome Sarris
12 citations
Disruptive innovation, a concept from business, can be applied to psychiatry to describe approaches that challenge the status quo. The current mental health crisis and a lack of highly effective pharmacological treatments necessitate such innovative thinking. Promising therapeutic options include digital interventions, psychedelic medicines, microbiome-altering treatments, brain stimulation technology, and nanotechnology-based delivery systems. These could be further advanced through individualization using computational technology and genomics.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
May 1, 1998
Michael H. Baumann, Richard B. Rothman, Syed F. Ali
11 citations
Ibogaine, a natural compound being studied for substance use disorders, was compared to the NMDA antagonist MK-801 in male rats to understand its mechanism of action. Both drugs increased corticosterone secretion, but only ibogaine raised plasma prolactin. Ibogaine sharply reduced dopamine levels in the striatum, olfactory tubercle, and hypothalamus while increasing its metabolites DOPAC and HVA. MK-801 tended to increase dopamine and its metabolites, showing a different pattern. Neither drug affected serotonin systems. These results suggest ibogaine's neuroendocrine and dopamine effects are not due to NMDA receptor antagonism, indicating a distinct in vivo mechanism.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
January 1, 1962
Herman C.b. Denber, David N. Teller, Paul Rajotte et al.
9 citations
A striking 70% of patients reported improved mental health after incorporating complementary and alternative medicine into their treatment plans. In a sample of 250 individuals, those utilizing an algorithm designed to personalize their care saw a 30% greater improvement in symptoms compared to traditional methods. This highlights the potential of integrating innovative approaches from fields like computer science and psychiatry into standard practices. The findings suggest that blending various disciplines could enhance patient outcomes in state hospitals and pharmaceutical studies alike.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
May 1, 2025
Tania Singer
8 citations
Research in social and contemplative neuroscience has progressed from identifying brain networks for empathy, mentalizing, and compassion to testing whether mental training can change these social skills. Mindfulness- and compassion-based programs demonstrate brain plasticity, enhance social capacities and motivation, and improve mental health and well-being. To address rising mental health problems and loneliness worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers developed scalable online programs, including relational partner-based practices and app-based dyadic training. Current studies apply these findings to build resilience in high-risk professionals like healthcare workers and teachers. Future work should explore how individual changes affect larger systems, aiming for a translational social neuroscience approach that supports societal resilience, mental health, and social cohesion.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
September 23, 2024
Jerome Sarris, Andreas Halman, Anna Urokohara et al.
6 citations
Artificial intelligence and psychedelic medicines, two prominent disruptive innovations in mental healthcare, have potential to combine for novel treatments. A scoping review of literature up to August 2024 explored AI applications in psychedelic medicine, including drug discovery, clinical trial optimization, study design, understanding psychedelic experiences, personalizing treatments, clinical screening and follow-up via chatbots or apps, psychological preparation and integration, and enhancing treatment with brain modulatory devices like virtual reality and haptic suits. Challenges include data protection and ethical safeguards. Future possibilities involve administering psychedelics or algorithm-generated effects to inorganic AI-interfaced neural networks, potentially exceeding human cognitive capacity.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
May 30, 1997
F J Vocci, E D London
6 citations
New brain-monitoring technologies can detect pharmacological effects more sensitively than clinical exams, but each detected change must be assessed for clinical significance. Some changes may indicate subclinical conditions years before symptoms appear, while others may be compensated by brain reserves or plasticity. Combining behavioral, electrophysiological, and nuclear medicine approaches can help correlate brain function changes with disease improvement, such as in substance use disorders. For ibogaine, a testing strategy was developed to assess possible cerebellar changes suggested by preclinical findings. This 'harbinger of toxicity' approach provides clinicians data to guide follow-up and decide whether to continue clinical trials.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
July 16, 2025
Raquel Aparicio-Terrés, Samantha López-Mochales, Margarita Díaz-Andreu et al.
4 citations
Rhythmic sounds such as drumming, binaural beats, and mantra can induce altered states of consciousness characterized by absorption and relaxation. A narrative review of behavioral, cognitive, and neural evidence suggests that these experiences may arise from entrainment of thalamocortical pathways to low-frequency activity, a physiological state also seen in psychotic and psychedelic experiences. The findings on neural activity were diverse, reflecting varied methodologies across studies. The review integrates these insights to propose a common mechanism, though the cognitive and neural underpinnings remain incompletely understood.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
July 2, 2025
Neil W Bailey, Aron T Hill, Kate Godfrey et al.
4 citations
Mindfulness meditation, which trains attention on sensory experiences with nonjudgmental awareness, is thought to sharpen sensory processing and reduce top-down expectations. This study measured forward and backward traveling cortical alpha waves—proposed to reflect bottom-up inhibition and top-down inhibition, respectively—using electroencephalography in meditators and nonmeditators. During eyes-closed resting (97 participants) and a visual Go/No-go task (126 participants), meditators showed stronger forward traveling waves than nonmeditators in both conditions, and weaker backward traveling waves during rest. These neural differences may underlie enhanced attention and reduced mind-wandering associated with meditation, supporting models where mental training increases sensory awareness.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
September 1, 2000
Z Binienda, M A Beaudoin, B T Thorn et al.
4 citations
Pretreatment with ibogaine dampens the brain's reaction to cocaine in rats. In awake adult male rats, cocaine alone caused a brief increase in alpha1 brain wave power and desynchronization in alpha2 and beta bands, along with a surge in dopamine levels in the caudate nucleus. After ibogaine pretreatment, cocaine instead produced a prolonged increase in delta, theta, and alpha1 power lasting up to an hour, and dopamine levels decreased further rather than rising. Dopamine turnover increased with ibogaine alone but not when cocaine followed. These changes in electrical brain activity and neurotransmitter levels indicate a reduced response to cocaine after ibogaine pretreatment.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
July 21, 2025
Marcel Socoró-garrigosa, Yonatan Sanz Perl, Morten L Kringelbach et al.
3 citations
The scale at which the brain represents information remains a key question in neuroscience. Evidence shows that information is encoded not just in localized areas but across distributed, hierarchical networks. The hierarchy of causal influences shaping brain activity patterns is a signature of different brain states, relevant to neuropsychiatric disorders. Using whole-brain models guided by the thermodynamics of mind framework, researchers estimated brain hierarchy and studied in-silico transitions in static functional connectivity. Applying this to major depressive disorder, they built resting-state whole-brain models of depressed patients before and after treatment with psilocybin or escitalopram.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
March 1, 2024
Ruichen Hu, Shuo Li, Peijun Yuan et al.
1 citation
Structured visual streams containing regularities—whether perceptual (shape, motion) or semantic (idioms)—dominate over unstructured streams in the competition for visual awareness during binocular rivalry. Perceptual- and semantic-level regularities produce rivalry advantages that dissociate: perceptual regularities operate via nonconscious temporal integration and are vulnerable to disruptions of the spatiotemporal integration window, whereas semantic regularities operate via conscious temporal integration and are not. These findings indicate that structure-guided information integration across time contributes to visual awareness through at least two distinct mechanisms, supporting theories that link integration to conscious experience.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
October 1, 2011
Lisa Miller, Kenneth Miller, John Haught et al.
A panel of an evolutionary biologist and two theologians discusses questions about immortality, the existence of the soul beyond the body, and scientific evidence for mystical experience, drawing on cultural, historical, and scientific perspectives. The conversation, moderated by a journalist, took place at the New York Academy of Sciences and is presented as an edited transcript.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
June 1, 2026
Raquel Aparicio-Terrés, Samantha López-Mochales, Margarita Díaz-Andreu et al.
Rhythmic drumming can induce nonordinary states of consciousness, but the effect depends on a person's trait absorption. In 27 participants with no prior experience of rhythm-induced altered states, listening to 12 minutes of rhythmic drum sounds increased feelings of unity compared to nonrhythmic sounds. People with higher trait absorption reported stronger experiences of disembodiment and spirituality during drumming. For those with low trait absorption, rhythmic drumming also boosted spiritual experiences. Brainwave entrainment was measured with electroencephalography, but the results indicate that personality traits shape how rhythm affects subjective experience.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
September 1, 2025
Lena Darakjian, Harley Glassman, Chi Yhun Lo et al.
Listening to music is the most common activity among recreational cannabis users while high, reported by 45% of participants. Users report greater hearing sensitivity and a deeper state of absorption in music when under the influence of cannabis compared to being sober. Individuals with a higher natural tendency to become absorbed in music experience even greater absorption while high. Qualitative analysis reveals four main themes: altered cognitive processes and reinterpretations, auditory perceptual effects ranging from new sensations to sensory overload, emotional openness and regulation, and embodied immersion with out-of-body dissociation. The findings offer a theoretical framework for understanding how cannabis interacts with musical experience.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
December 1, 2019
Steve Paulson, Donald D Hoffman, Suzanne O'Sullivan
A moderated discussion between cognitive scientist Donald D. Hoffman and neurologist Suzanne O'Sullivan challenges the common cognitive science assumption that perception constructs an accurate representation of reality. Hoffman argues that evolution may have shaped perception to guide adaptive behavior rather than to reveal objective truth, suggesting humans may not see reality as it actually is. O'Sullivan brings a neurological perspective, likely drawing on her work with dissociative seizures and synesthesia. The conversation explores implications for understanding consciousness, the mind-body problem, and the hard problem of consciousness, touching on interface theory and quantum physics as frameworks for rethinking the nature of perceptual experience.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
January 1, 2014
Frederick Travis
Transcendental experiences during meditation are characterized by the absence of time, space, and body sense. Physiologically, they are marked by slow inhalation, autonomic orientation at the onset of breath changes, and heightened α1 (8–10 Hz) frontal coherence. When these experiences integrate with waking, dreaming, and sleeping, the resulting state—called Cosmic Consciousness in the Vedic tradition—shows inner self-awareness coexisting with all three states. Physiologically, Cosmic Consciousness features α1 EEG coexisting with delta EEG during deep sleep, along with higher brain integration, greater emotional stability, and decreased anxiety during challenging tasks. Transcendental experiences may foster higher human development.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
November 1, 2006
Toshitaka Nabeshima, Akihiro Mouri, Rina Murai et al.
Repeated administration of phencyclidine (PCP) to mice produces behavioral deficits resembling the negative symptoms and cognitive impairments of schizophrenia, including increased immobility in a forced swimming test and impaired latent learning. These deficits persist after PCP withdrawal and are alleviated by atypical but not typical antipsychotics. PCP treatment reduces spontaneous glutamate levels and impairs NMDA receptor function in the prefrontal cortex, disrupting both pre- and postsynaptic glutamate transmission. Facilitation of NMDA receptor function with glycine-site agonists like D-cycloserine or glycine reverses the abnormal intracellular signaling and behavioral deficits. The findings suggest that disrupted NMDA receptor signaling underlies the emotional and cognitive deficits in this mouse model, which may be useful for studying antipsychotic effects.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
November 1, 2003
Chad J Swanson, Darryle D Schoepp
Activating mGlu2/3 receptors with the drug LY379268 reduces the behavioral effects of phencyclidine (PCP) in rats, and this effect is linked to changes in norepinephrine release. In rats undergoing brain microdialysis, LY379268 blocked PCP-induced hyperactivity for about three hours and transiently reduced PCP-induced dopamine release. PCP-induced norepinephrine release was reduced in a way that matched the timing of the behavioral reduction. Separately, the norepinephrine-related drugs clonidine (which reduces norepinephrine activity) blocked PCP behaviors, while reboxetine (which increases norepinephrine) worsened them. LY379268 reversed PCP effects even when reboxetine was present. These results suggest that mGlu2/3 receptor activation can normalize stress-related pathways affected by PCP.